Summary

The popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has long since peaked, but Disney failed to capitalize on its heyday with spinoffs that could have expanded its universe. Pirate movies have historically been box office disasters, as evidenced by both 1995s Cut-throat Island and 1982s Pirates. Despite this, The Curse of the Black Pearl became a huge box office hit, and the series soon became one of Hollywoods hottest franchises. The ensuing sequels werent as well-received critically, but the original trilogy was still a major box-office success.

2011s On Stranger Tides took a major risk by dropping most of the main characters save for Johnny Depps Jack Sparrow, but this paid off with box office receipts of over $1 billion. Despite this, there is still no sign of a Pirates of the Caribbean 6 release date. 2017s Dead Men Tell No Tales saw the franchise earn its worst reviews as the fifth movie also became the least profitable outing since the original movie. In the six years since, it became clear that the franchises peak had already come and gone, and Disney never turned Pirates of the Caribbean into a cinematic universe with spinoffs.

Part of the reason that Disney never expanded the franchise appears to be a fear of extending its focus beyond Depps Jack Sparrow. While Depps antihero shared the limelight with Kiera Knightleys fiery heroine Elizabeth and Orlando Blooms Will in the original trilogy, he was the sole focus of the later, lesser sequels. However, although Dead Men Tell No Tales briefly featured a younger version of Depps character in an early flashback, the series never pursued a spinoff centered on the recast Jack Sparrow. This was a waste when everything from Star Wars to the Indiana Jones franchise has historically attempted prequels that focus on younger versions of their lead characters.

Recasting Jack Sparrow wasn't the only way that the series could have benefited from looking into its past. The third movie, 2007s At Worlds End, revealed that the high seas were effectively governed by a trans-continental league of seafaring thieves known as the Nine Pirate Lords. Even though the legendary Keith Richards had a cameo as one of these Lords, who was also Jacks father, the series never capitalized on this shocking development with a spinoff. A scheme hatched by the Pirate Lords, or a story associated with just one of them, could've been the focus of a separate Pirates of the Caribbean installment.

The most obvious avenue for the franchise to pursue would have been for the series to flesh out its lore further. However, part of what made the original movie so fun was its light-hearted, self-aware tone. To avoid sacrificing this element of the series, the creators of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise could have focused a spinoff on Pintel and Ragetti, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-style pair of comic relief characters who cropped up at pivotal moments throughout the original trilogy. Going in this direction would have allowed the franchise to experiment with a different approach, one that relied even more on comedy and perhaps a little less on action.

If viewers did want more answers about the world of the series, the easiest place for the franchise to start would be in its existing settings. Pirates of the Caribbeans Tortuga is a real-life island with an interesting history, while the Fountain of Youth seen in On Stranger Tides proved that the series wasnt afraid to venture far and wide in search of fantasy settings. A spinoff could have explained the magical properties of the Fountain in more depth, shown more of Tortugas real and fictional history, or even delved into how the magic of the franchises locations functioned.

The Kraken was a Lovecraftian beast that could take down any ship thanks to its immense size and inconceivable power, and its appearance near the end of Dead Mans Chest was one of the franchises most chilling moments. As such, it was a crushing disappointment when the Kraken was killed offscreen between movies, reducing the best monster in the series into little more than a giant beached squid. This letdown could have been ameliorated by a spinoff that showcased the Krakens terrifying glory in more detail. A new group of protagonists could have been pitted against the monster.

On the topic of villains who were badly misused by At Worlds End, Davy Jones and Tia Dalmas backstory was wasted in that overstuffed outing. The pair were implied to have had a tragic past, with Jones falling in love with the sea goddess only for him to betray her so that he could gain more power. Their brutally sad story indirectly leads to Joness brutal fate when Tia Dalma returns to her original form as the goddess Calypso, but this love story deserves an entire spinoff instead of one throwaway scene.

While the Kraken was scary and Jones was heartless, neither of them could compare with the worst villains in the series. The East India Trading Company was an unthinking, callous corporation that killed with impunity as it brought ruthless economic warfare to the world of piracy. However, the real-life East India Trading Company was immeasurably worse than the franchises cartoony villains and a spinoff that focused on their misdeeds could have highlighted this dark chapter in maritime history.

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was not short of memorable villains, but the series was limited when it came to screen time. As a result, characters like Captain Barbossa, the aforementioned Davy Jones and Tia Dalma, Captain Salazar, and Blackbeard were never meaningfully fleshed out. Barbossa even went from the original movies villain to Jacks sidekick in the fourth and fifth franchise outings without any character development occurring in between these extremes. As such, a spinoff could have filled some of these gaps and answered questions the movies didn't have room for.

Centering the villains of the Pirates of the Caribbean series in a spinoff would be an easy way to win over viewers, but wouldnt do much to keep the series going and introduce the movies to a new generation. For that, the creators of the franchise would have needed to focus a spinoff on Elizabeth and Wills son. Dead Men Tell No Tales attempted this, but the sequel was mostly focused on Jack and this new hero felt like an afterthought. For the franchise to fulfill its potential, Disney needed to make a Pirates of the Caribbean spinoff that finally took Jack Sparrow out of the spotlight.

More:

9 Pirates Of The Caribbean Spinoffs Disney Already Missed Out On Making - Screen Rant